Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
In a further sign of a return to normality in the UK, Emirates has released Arsenal football tickets for Emirates Skywards members who have miles to redeem. You can also use American Express Membership Rewards points via a transfer. The timing of this is not great, of course, given the Arsenal result against Brentford on […]
Category: Emirates and Emirates Skywards
Bits: Hilton festival tickets, Emirates ups UK flights Sainsbury’s credit card bonus cut, Plaza winners
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: Get tickets for Summer festivals with your Hilton Honors points (flushable toilets included) Hilton Honors has added a range of tickets for Summer music festivals across the UK to its ‘Experiences’ website. Each includes a mix of standard and VIP tickets with different points requirements. The Hilton Experiences home page is here. […]
Bits: BA Holidays sale to Dubai, France and Germany, Emirates returns to Glasgow, BA Southampton flights launch
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: BA Holidays launches a sale to Dubai, France and Germany With Dubai now added to the Amber travel list, allowing fully vaccinated travellers to visit without quarantine on their return, British Airways Holidays has added Dubai to its current beach sale. There are also extra discounts available on holidays to Dubai, Germany […]
NEW: Use Emirates miles for JetBlue Business Class and Lancashire cricket tickets
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
We have been getting a little excited – possibly too excited, given that it is not in a major airline alliance and the flight times are not great – about JetBlue’s new routes from London Heathrow and Gatwick to New York and Boston. The Heathrow flights from Terminal 2 will launch first, operating daily from […]
Why the only thing better than transferable points is INSTANTLY transferable points
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
One of the key ideas I push on Head for Points is that transferable, or convertible, points are better than non-transferable points. The best way to explain this is via American Express Membership Rewards points, earned from Amex Gold, Amex Platinum and the Amex Rewards Credit Card. You can transfer 1 American Express Membership Rewards […]
Arsenal football tickets bookable again with Emirates miles or Amex points
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
In a further sign of a return to normality, Emirates has released Arsenal football tickets for Emirates Skywards members who have miles to redeem. You can also use American Express Membership Rewards points via a transfer. The timing of this is terrible, of course, given that the calamity last night means that Arsenal will have no […]
Bits: Emirates ending partner First Class redemptions, Best Western 342 sale, Shangri-La double tier nights
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: Emirates ending partner redemptions in First Class If you are planning to redeem airline miles for Emirates First Class, it looks like Emirates Skywards will soon be your only option. Emirates appears to be moving towards a Lufthansa-style model, whereby First Class redemptions are only available via its own programme, in this […]
How to use Emirates Skywards miles on Qantas, Japan Airlines, easyJet and other airline partners
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
A lot of Head for Points readers find themselves flying on Emirates occasionally. Unfortunately, it is easy to find yourself with a pile of orphaned Emirates Skywards miles. Emirates is the largest airline globally not to be part of an airline alliance. This makes it a little more difficult to use your Skywards miles, since […]
Bits: 100% Hilton buy points bonus, use your TAP status on Emirates, package holiday regulations
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: (Another) 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points Hilton has brought back its offer of a 100% bonus when you purchase 15,000+ points. The Hilton ‘buy points’ page is here. What makes this offer different to the last one is that the annual purchase limit has been increased. You can now […]
Get 5,500+ Avios or other miles with a £37+ Rocketmiles hotel booking
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
For much of 2020 and Q1 of 2021, hotel booking site Rocketmiles has been running an EXCELLENT ‘first user’ promotion which can earn you 5,500+ easy Avios, Virgin Flying Club or other airline miles from just one night. Bookings under this offer need to be made by 31st March although you can stay later. In […]
How do Emirates ‘My Family’ household accounts work?
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
Most people don’t realise that the British Airways style of family or household account is actually very rare. Few other airlines let you pool 100% of the miles earned by your wider friends and family. Until 2018, Emirates had a family policy that could best be described as a token gesture. Your family were allowed […]
How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points flying Emirates and get Emirates status benefits at Marriott hotels!
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
Marriott Bonvoy and Emirates Skywards have a low profile partnership called ‘Your World Rewards’. It allows you to double dip with Emirates Skywards miles and Marriott Bonvoy points in the same transaction. ‘Your World Rewards’ is designed to encourage Emirates flyers to stay at Marriott Bonvoy hotels and vice versa. The bottom line is that […]
Emirates unveils a Premium Economy cabin and refreshes First & Business
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
It’s been a long time coming but Emirates has – finally – introduced premium economy seating. It is launching on the Heathrow route next week. The Middle Eastern airlines have all been behind the curve on the introduction of premium economy cabins, first pioneered by Virgin Atlantic and Eva Air in the 1990s. For example, […]
LAST CALL: Get 5,000 Avios or other miles with your first Rocketmiles hotel booking
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
For much of 2020, hotel booking site Rocketmiles has been running an EXCELLENT ‘first user’ promotion which can earn you 5,000+ easy Avios, Virgin Flying Club or other airline miles from just one night. Bookings under this offer need to be made by 31st December, although you can stay later. In my view this has […]
How to use small orphan amounts of frequent flyer miles and hotel points – Part 2
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
This is the second part of the updated article I began two weeks ago, discussing the best ways to ‘zero out’ loyalty card accounts which you want to abandon. You need to remember that you may first need to ‘top off’ an account by earning a few more points before you can reach the smallest redemption […]
How American Express Membership Rewards members can buy frequent flyer miles at a discount
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
One of the lesser known features of the American Express Membership Rewards programme is the ability to buy up to 10,000 Membership Rewards points per year for 1.5p each. This facility is mentioned on the Amex website here – scroll down to Clause 3 – although it does not mention the price. Note that a lot […]
Get 5,000 Avios or other miles with your first Rocketmiles hotel booking
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
Hotel booking site Rocketmiles is currently running an EXCELLENT ‘first user’ promotion which can earn you 5,000+ easy Avios, Virgin Flying Club or other airline miles from just one night. The offer runs until the end of 2020. If you don’t have any plans to use it immediately, park this idea for a few weeks. […]
Dubai and Abu Dhabi requiring covid test certificates for entry, transfer AND EXIT
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
In what appears to be an extremely harsh measure, given the position of Dubai and Abu Dhabi as tourist destinations and transit hubs, the UAE has announced that no-one will be allowed to board a flight to Dubai or Abu Dhabi if they are not […]
Three reasons why BA flyers may find the new Qantas / Amex Membership Rewards tie-up useful
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
We ran two articles last week on Qantas Frequent Flyer joining UK American Express Membership Rewards as a transfer partner. This article is an overview of Qantas Frequent Flyer and Membership Rewards, and this article looks at whether you should use Qantas Frequent Flyer points […]
Fly EL AL? It’s a new option now Qantas has joined Amex Membership Rewards
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
On Monday, Qantas Frequent Flyer became a partner of American Express Membership Rewards in the UK. As promised, I wanted to answer the question: what are the best ways to spend Qantas Frequent Flyer points if you live in the UK? I should caveat this by […]